BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl refreshed

RIM is expected to announce two new mobile phones in the US later today at the start of its week long WES2010 conference in Orlando, Florida.

According to a press release that was sent out a little too early, the company will be launch two new handsets Stateside; the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G.

The Bold 9650, which strangely from a spec point of view sits under the currently UK available BlackBerry Bold 9700, is a candy bar smartphone with a 3.2-megapixel camera, a large high-resolution screen, GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS or dual-band CDMA/EV-DO (Rev A) connectivity suggesting it will be a US only handset.

An update to the popular Pearl range, the BlackBerry Pearl 3G will be a GSM phone, and come with a "large, high-resolution screen," a 3.2-megapixel camera and GPS, although it has better Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n).

Both models will feature the new optical trackpad rather than trackball found on older models.

According to TheStreet.com who broke the news, "The BlackBerry Bold 9650 will be available next month from Sprint(S). The BlackBerry Pearl 3G will be available in Canada on Bell, TELUS(TU) and Rogers(RCI). You'll need to check with U.S. carriers for availability."

We should know more details when the conference starts in earnest later on Monday.

In related BlackBerry news, mobile operator 3 has announced that it will be selling the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in white. Available to existing 3 customers from the week commencing 26 April and in 3 Stores from Mid May.

Read our BlackBerry Bold 9700 mobile phone review.

UPDATE: BlackBerry has confirmed the BlackBerry Bold 9650 will not be coming to the UK. It has confirmed that UK and European customers will be getting the new Pearl, however with a standard number pad keyboard rather than a qwerty offering.

Stuart has been a tech journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications around the world. Regularly turning up on television, radio and in newspapers, Stuart has played with virtually every gadget available.